1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that enables to easily remove a jammed sheet, in the case where a sheet to be fed to an image forming section along a transport path is jammed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been known a so-called vertical transport type image forming apparatus for transporting a sheet substantially in a vertical direction toward an image forming section, as recited in JP No. 2004-123393A (D1). Generally, the image forming apparatus has a closing member (a side part cover member in D1) which is opened and closed by swinging back and forth about an axis of a support shaft mounted at a lower part on a side wall of the apparatus body and extending in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet transport direction. A sheet transport path is defined between an inner wall of the closing member in a closed state, and a portion of the image forming section opposing to the closing member. A photosensitive drum and a transfer roller are provided at respective appropriate positions on the transport path, as opposed to each other with respect to the transport path.
A sheet dispensed from a sheet storage provided at a lower part of the apparatus body, or manually fed by an operator is transported upwardly along the sheet transport path. Then, a toner image on a surface of the photosensitive drum is transferred to the sheet while the sheet passes a nip portion between the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller. After the transferring operation has been completed, the sheet has the toner image fixed by a heat in a fixing section provided immediately above the photosensitive drum, and then the sheet is discharged outside the apparatus body.
In the vertical transport type image forming apparatus, in the case where a sheet is jammed in the sheet transport path, the operator is allowed to remove the jammed sheet by swinging the closing member about the axis of the support shaft and exposing the jammed sheet.
It is often the case that an image forming apparatus has a manual tray for allowing the operator to feed sheets, in addition to a sheet cassette or cassettes. Generally, the manual tray is provided on a side wall of the apparatus body opposite to the side wall of the apparatus body where the closing member is mounted. A sheet placed on the manual tray is fed from a position above the sheet cassette toward the sheet transport path, and has a transport direction thereof changed from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction by about 90° upon reaching a transport direction changing position, whereby the sheet is transported in the vertical direction.
In the above arrangement, in the case where a sheet is jammed in the vicinity of the transport direction changing position, it is extremely difficult to remove the sheet bent with a substantially right angle from the sheet direction changing position, even if the closing member is opened.